The Historic Foodie's (2nd Annual) Summer Feast- Feasting Day

With preparations under way for The Historic Foodie's Summer Feast, feasting day started much like an episode of "No Reservations."
We started the day at the  Reston Farmer's Market at Lake Anne for the elusive salt pork and a breakfast of street food.

  


Valentine's Bakery and Meats had "bacon ends" which I decided would be an acceptable substitute for salt pork. Roomie found some gluten free muffins and cakes in the bakery section, which was welcome.
I had coffee and grabbed pepper-steak empanadas to fuel my hectic day. Roomie had coffee and tacos from her favorite, Lake Anne Deli.

Fortified for my day and with the final ingredients to hand, the cooking could begin in earnest.

Setting the fish to thaw

I started with Fried Chicken with a milk and flour (in this case gluten free flour) batter and oven fried. I would finish up with a butter and parsley sauce closer to serving.

Fried Chicken- batter up!

Next up was a dish that has become a signature, Macaroni Pudding. (Mac-n-Cheese for Mac and Cheese).  Since this was for company, I went all out with cream, butter, and a dash of parsley.

Macaroni Pudding- ready to bake

Moving on to beans. I choose two different recipes with beans, Succotash and Boston Baked Beans. That's a lot of beans. :-p  First up is lima beans for Succotash.

Lima Beans for Succotash

While the beans and corn were boiling, I set the roast in to ...well.. roast.
The glaze was not specified in the receipt, so I used cooking marsala, orange juice, and Lea & Perrins sauce.

Well... that was a disappointment...  the roast is too roasted. Hopefully the gravy saves it from the inedible status.

Moving on to potatoes. It's just not a mid 19th century meal without potatoes. I chose oven-baked with a salt and oil finish. 

Potatoes- ready to bake

Cruising right along for Fish Cakes, in this case salmon.
I made the batter and then formed the cake with a flour dusting.

Fish Cake- batter

Fish Cake- oven frying

  This point in the cooking process was chaos. I was running late and in a flurry to finish up, get my sideboard organized and tables set, and get ready to greet my guests.  My Roomie was again the hero by peeling apples and doing the mountain of dirty dishes. My Hero!

Photos will continue in the next post, showing the finished dishes and happy guests.

The Historic Foodie's (2nd Annual) Summer Feast- Let the feast begin!